Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Here Come Those Radical Freemasons Again

News that the European Union could soon open an investigation into tax breaks that the Italian Church enjoys in the property market sparked a fierce political debate in Italy Tuesday.

"It's good news that the European Commission is gathering information on competition violations," Green party senator Natale Ripamonti told ANSA agency.

"Hopefully our pro-European country will dispense with these privileges," he added. The Green party forms part of the radical wing of the current ruling coalition.

But the Christian Democrat UDC party dismissed the Brussels initiative, suggesting it was the product of "radical Freemason" circles.

There's nothing like a panicked politician when cornered. But he had to reach awfully deep to find a Masonic bogeyman. And here I thought our numbers were shrinking and that Freemasonry wasn't relevant to anybody anymore. Yet here we are snatching the Vatican's tax free status from them? Incredible!

Has anyone but me noticed a general uptick in anti-Masonic messages out of Europe? Or is it just that the web makes them easier to run across these days...But of course, nothing beats the U.K. press' standard gigglesome anti-Masonic swipe. It's in a good 85% of all news articles that come out in the U.K. that mention Freemasons. As in this otherwise benign description of Norwich's "Heritage Open Days," during which Norwichers (Norwicheans? Norwichii?) are allowed into buildings normally closed to the public:

Find out why you don't need to roll up your trouser legs to get into Norwich's Masonic Hall on St Giles Street. Free tours of the intriguing 17th century hall run all day on Saturday and Sunday.

They just can't stop themselves from that hilarious "rolled up trouser leg" gag.

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

These people make me laugh. My father who was a Mason (Raised back in 74 and then joined the Scottish Rite) on the 17th. My uncle opened up with a prayer and then they had Masonic rights which were beautiful. My boss and another manager from the company were there, they took me out to lunch last Thursday and the questions started flying. They had been watching TV and asked if there was really a Tyler with a weapon guarding the door. I told them sure is. That is the only question that I really answered besides telling them they could find out more by petitioning. Those who don't understand will always sling mud. They need someone to blame and we are easy targets, oh well. Then I told them I was a Fellowcraft and would be raised to Master Mason soon. My boss says, "Master something anyway!". I let it roll off. Kinda reminds me of that Monty Python skit on Youtube. It's so stupid it makes me laugh. Thanks for listening brother! Sorry for the ranting! I will find out tomorrow for sure but it looks like I will be raised Sept 5.

Do remember that Freemasonry in Italy is radically different from Freemasonry in the US or the UK. There are lodges that are not in Masonic communication with UGLE or US Grand Lodges because these Italian lodges mix politics, religion, and Masonry. You have to be quite careful when visiting Lodges in Italy to avoid these lodges. Take a look at this reference to Roberto Calvi's murder and to the "secret lodge" P2.

All that being said, I think it's unlikely that regular Freemasonry is spurring these "attacks" on the Roman Catholic Church's tax breaks.

It's always amusing to US Masons to read stories blaming Masonry for all sorts os funny business here in Europe, as regular Freemasonry is never involved in politics in this way.

Brother Hansen,Oh I'm quite aware that there are what we term irregular European Grand Lodges (the Grand Orient de France, a primary example) that regularly issue public statements of their position on political and religious issues. And more than a few Grand Lodges that US lodges are not in amity with are, indeed, publicly at odds with the Catholic Church. The Grand Orient de France was also one of the noisiest groups denouncing Muslim women wearing head scarves in public.

Even in the US, the AASR-Southern Jurisdiction's old magazine, The New Age, rarely let a month go by without an article or editorial criticizing Catholics, Catholic schools, or the Pope, for about 50 years. Words like popery, monkery and similar swipes were part of the everyday lexicon of some Protestant Masons for a very long time in the US, up until the election of JFK, the first Catholic president. After that, the sniping seemed to die off, once bigoted Protestants decided that maybe Kennedy wasn't going to cede the Louisiana Purchase states to the Pope to build a new US Vatican.

It should also be pointed out, just for the sake of also pointing it out, that the irregular Grand Orients in France and Italy, even though we don't recognize them, are the most popular GLs in their respective countries.

I have noticed an uptick in anti-freemason sentiment everywhere. Groups like "ephesians5-11" and "ex masons for jesus" seem to be kicking up their efforts big time. With guys like Bill Schnoebelen telling churches to root out their masonic parishioners I'm starting to wonder why the sudden increased interest? Well, I'm sure masons in the 1820s said the same thing when the anti-mason party founded.

Freemasonry is...

Freemasonry is the world's largest, oldest and best-known gentleman's fraternity. It is based on the medieval stonemason guilds who built the great castles and cathedrals of Europe. Modern Freemasons use the tools, traditions and terminology of those stonemasons as allegories for building temples in the hearts of men. It's said that we are a secret society. We do indeed have secrets—secrets that each individual man has to discover for and about himself. It's not for everybody. Maybe it's for you.

"Brother Chris Hodapp's [blog]...is thought provoking and is often the first place on the web where new ideas and matters of interest are posted."

Christopher L. Hodapp is the former editor of the "Journal of The Masonic Society." He is the author of the best-selling "Freemasons For Dummies," and "Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C."
He is the co-author with Alice Von Kannon of "The Templar Code For Dummies" and "Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies For Dummies."
He has appeared on the History and Discovery channels on the subject of Freemasonry, its role in the founding of the United States and the building of Washington D.C.
Hodapp has spent more than twenty years editing, writing and directing as a commercial filmmaker. He has written for corporate and non-profit programs, and his voice has appeared in many television and radio commercials.
His newest book, "Deciphering the Lost Symbol," was published in 2010.
He is a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Freemason, and he lives in Indianapolis, Indiana.